Relative Clauses

2º BACHILLERATO – IES CIUDAD JARDÍN 2017-2018

 RELATIVE PRONOUNS
WHO - It refers to persons and to the subject
(que, quien, el
cual, la cual) Ex: An astronaut is a person who travels in space.
WHOM - It refers to persons when they are not the subject; it often used
(con quien, with a preposition.
a quien…)
Ex: This is the man whom I saw stealing. (I saw the man)
That’s the boy with whom I play football. (I play with him)
WHICH - It refers to things and animals.
(que, el cual, la
cual) Ex: Catco is a company which makes toys.
THAT - It refers to persons, things and animals; it can replace who and
(que, quien, el which-
cual, la cual)
Ex: This toy is a bag that changes into a ball.
Directors are people that have a lot of responsibility.
WHOSE - It means possession and refers to persons, things and animals.
(cuyo, cuya,
cuyos, cuyas) Ex: Mr Johnson is the person whose job is to sell the toys.
That is the house whose owner is my uncle.
 RELATIVE PRONOUNS

WHEN - It refers to a point of time

(cuando)
Ex: April is the month when I celebrate my birthday.
WHERE - It refers to places
(donde)
Ex: This hotel is where we stayed on holidays.
 OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Relative pronouns can be omitted if it is the object of the

relative clause. If it is followed by a subject and a verb is
probably it could be the object.
Ex: That’s the guitar (that/which) they gave me
He’s the boy (that/who) I was going to the concert with

We can never omit WHOSE

 PREPOSITIONS WITH RELATIVE CLAUSES

In some cases we have a preposition at the end of the sentence.

Ex: This is the song we told you about

Is that the guy who spoke to?

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NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
Non-Defining relative clauses give additional information but not
essential about the subject they follow. If we delete it, the whole
sentence can have sense for us.
Ex: The singer has just released their third album.
The singer, who is starting a tour next week, has just released
their third album.
 NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relative pronouns cannot be omitted in non-defining relative structure.
Ex: Punk music, which just first appeared in the UK, is becoming
fashionable.

We always use commas to separate the non-defining clause:

Ex: The tickets, which cast over €50 each, were posted to the wrong address

We can match two simple sentences by a non-defining clause:

Ex: My uncle is called Peter. He is a lawyer.
My uncle, who is a lawyer, is called Peter.

We never use THAT in the non-defining relative clauses. We must use

WHO/WHICH
Special expressions with non-defining relative clauses:
All of which/whom ------- todos los cuales
Any of which/whom ------ cualquiera de los cuales
Both of which/whom -----ambos
Few of which/whom ---------- pocos de los cuales
Many of which/whom ------- muchos de los cuales
Most of which/whom -------- la mayoría
None of which/whom------- ninguno de los cuales

Ex: We interview two guitarists, both of whom were excellent